The Family I Never Had
by xStillxInxLovex
Summary: Axel had never known what it was like to feel loved by a family. When Roxas came along he opened Axel up to all of those possibilites, along with the possibilily of giving his heart away and being loved by someone, no strings attached. AkuRoku RiSo
1. Introductions

**This is my new story that I've been working on for a little bit. It's inspired by things that have happened in my own life, and I hope that everyone enjoys it! I've been in a kind of writing slump lately, and my writing hasn't been that good. DX. I've made sure to extra-edit this one; since I'm stuck home right now and can't go anywhere (got my wisdom teeth pulled. UGH).**

**Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this, and please review. :D**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or its characters (but I do own the Kingdom Hearts t-shirt that I'm wearing right now!). Everything belongs to Square Enix and Disney, except for this plot. Muahaha, it's all mine XD**

_Chapter 1: Axel_

If you would've asked me six months ago about my family, I would have laughed in your face. I would've fallen to the ground in hysterics, and not recovered for about five minutes. And when I finally recovered, I would have told you that I don't have one. As simple as that.

Then you would've waited for some other explanation. I mean, falling into hysterics for a full five minutes, and then responding with a simple statement doesn't sound like it's a full explanation to anyone. I would've told you that that was all. I didn't have one.

You would've shrugged, and then walked away like everyone else.

And when you were gone, I'd continue to giggle until I felt like it wasn't funny anymore, or until someone asked me the same question. In that case, I would fall back into hysterics.

But I did have a family. But, I didn't like them at all, you see.

If you would have asked me the same question now, instead of laughing for five minutes, I would talk about how great my family was, and how loving they were, and how my grandma is a phenomenal cook. You would've smiled, and then proceeded to tell me about your family. I would've listened, then laughed along with you at the funny parts, rolled my eyes with you at the stupid parts, and felt sorrow with you at the sad parts.

I love my family to death, but the only thing missing is that they're not _my _family. They've just accepted me in countless ways that my own didn't.

They're _his _family.

&!&! _**Six months earlier**_&!&!

Axel hated year round school. Hated it. What he liked was getting the three month break in the summer, instead of having random three week breaks plus having school when it was blistering hot out. And in Twilight Town, it got blistering hot and stayed that way for most of the summer. Who wants to sit in a classroom and listen to teachers drone on about stupid stuff when they can be out doing other things?

Axel laughed to himself. It's not like he really did anything outside of school anyway, besides avoiding his own home, that is. But still. Year round school. Who even thought of the horrendous idea?

Axel leaned back in his chair and ignored the looks from the current substitute teacher. Substitute teachers always gave you 'the look' but never really enforced it. Everyone knew it, and everyone exploited it. Including him. He looked out the window, and smiled when he saw heat waves above the pavement, as if sending him a signal that it was boiling out. This was Axel's favorite weather- blistering hot and to the point where you could fry an egg on the pavement if you really wanted to. And he was stuck in this year round pit of a dilapidated school.

As if on cue, a chunk of plaster fell from the ceiling and onto his graffitied desk. Axel flicked it, and it skidded over onto Riku's desk and right into his sleeping head.

Riku looked up, startled, and Axel forced back his laugh. Riku looked around, and when he saw there wasn't anything out of the ordinary he put his head back on the desk and went right to sleep again. Axel yawned, and put his head down, intending to sleep just as Riku was. No one was awake during first hour, except for the people who _actually _cared about learning. There were very few people like that in his school.

Take Kairi for example. Small, pretty, smart. The perfect example of a model student, and person, for that matter. She was nice to everyone, was one of the only people in the school to get straight A's (besides her twin Naminé), and managed to keep a job in her free time. She didn't belong in a rotting school like this; she belonged in a private school with excellent education and uniforms. But her parents were poor, and she was stuck here in the 'bad side' of town.

And because of all these great qualities she possessed, she most definitely wasn't Axel's type. He preferred the straight F, didn't care about school, doing-whatever-the-hell-she-wanted type. And, of course, they liked him back. Just ask his girlfriend, Paine.

Axel glanced at the whiteboard, and not to his surprise, it was now filled with the substitute's scrawl that was practically unreadable. And on one side, there was the sub's attempt at public humiliation for the students. He had written 'See me after class,' and his list had about twenty names under it.

So basically, everyone except Kairi.

Axel heard the classroom door open, but he didn't bother to look up. He figured that it was probably the principal coming in to tell them that the bathrooms were off limits to everyone for a week because of the recent vandalism. It happens every week, and everyone was used to it. Everyone had pretty much trained themselves to hold their bladders until they got home.

"Well… class, we uh, have a new student…" The substitute, Mr. What's-his-face (Axel didn't bother learning his name) seemed flustered, used only to teaching and not other teacher responsibilities. He didn't know how to approach the arrival of a new student, and his inexperience to the teaching world was showing. "Er, introduce yourself, I guess."

Axel took his head off the desk, figuring that a new person was more interesting then the class getting yelled at for vandalism again. But when he saw the new person who was a short blonde boy wearing name brand clothes, he felt like putting his head back down. He resisted the urge, however, knowing that he might as well look at the kid now because within a week he'd be gone, just like every other kid like him.

The kid cleared his throat, and Axel was pleasantly surprised to see that he didn't get nervous with the class's stares upon him. "My name is Roxas."

The substitute nodded. "Alrighty then… sit down, I guess. Find an empty seat." Mr. What's-his-face scanned the room and pointed to the seat right next to Axel. "There's one by the tall redhead."

Axel looked at the seat next to him and grimaced. Sure enough, it was empty. Axel remembered the chick that sat there last week… Selphie, was it? Either way, she stayed at the school for a half a week then left. She was just like the kid that was about to take her seat. Axel lazily put his head in his hand, and watched the kid sit down.

The kid slouched down into the chair, keeping his sapphire eyes on the whiteboard.

"So, Roxas…" Axel felt like toying with the kid. He'd be gone soon anyway.

"Yeah?" Roxas rolled his head toward Axel, disinterest plain on his features.

"So where'd you come from?" His first guess was somewhere ritzy like Radiant Garden.

"Hollow Bastion."

Axel raised an eyebrow. Hollow Bastion was about as run down as it was here.

Roxas noticed his motion. "What? Is something wrong with Hollow Bastion?"

Axel shrugged. "Nope. Just not exactly what I expected." Axel didn't want to explain _why _that wasn't what he expected. It wasn't a good conversation starter to say "_You look rich. What the hell were you doing in such a dump?"_

Roxas sighed with annoyance and looked back up at the board. "Figures."

A few moments later Riku snorted in his sleep, and Axel rolled his eyes.

"God Riku," he muttered, "if you're gunna sleep in class you might as well do it quietly." Axel moved down to doodling on his empty notebook paper (that was _supposed _to be full of notes).

With a glance to the side he noticed that Roxas doodling as well. Axel squinted at the picture. He couldn't discern what it was supposed to be.

_Is that supposed to be a pony or a hippo? Or maybe it's was a giraffe…? _

He didn't notice Roxas stop drawing and look up at him. "What? You look confused."

Axel shrugged and took his eyes off the picture. "I can't really make out what you're picture's _supposed _to be. It looks like a giraffe to me, or possibly a llama."

Roxas chuckled. "No, stupid. It's supposed to be a dog. My golden retriever, Sandy."

Axel pulled the notebook closer to him, and looked at the picture harder. No matter how much he squinted, he couldn't make out a dog in it. "Are you sure?"

Roxas rolled his eyes and took his notebook back. "Yeah, it's _supposed _to be. I'm not exactly the family artist." He scratched his head, blushing slightly. "That would be my mom. She can draw, and boy, she's great when it comes to fixing like injuries and stuff. She's just an all around good person." He laughed to himself, and drew an ear on Sandy. "She's actually a teacher. A good one, too."

I snorted. "A teacher? My mom's the exact opposite of yours."

"How so?"

"Eh, you don't want to know." Axel couldn't tell someone he barely knew about his mom. How could he, when even from the little information he just learned, he could tell that Roxas's mom was the polar opposite of his? His mom was a whore, always had a new boyfriend, and didn't even talk to him. Even from Roxas's small tidbit of information, he could tell that the blonde was way better off than him. Because, when it came down to it, his mom was a slut. There was no other explanation.

Axel was content when Roxas didn't press the issue. He admired the fact that Roxas knew when to stop asking questions. Axel grimaced to himself. Unlike a lot of the other people in the school, some of which didn't realize they were about to get punched for prying too much into someone else's business.

Axel yawned, and then rested his hands behind his head. He felt like he should keep talking to Roxas (it's not like the blonde was even paying attention, anyway) but he was lost for what to say.

"Hey, do you have any gum?" Axel asked randomly, looking at Roxas hopefully.

Roxas smirked and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a pack of Big Red gum, and Axel let out a small squeal of delight then ripped it out of Roxas's hand and shoved a piece in his mouth.

"Ohhhhh, I loooove Big Red." Axel handed the pack back, and let his head rest on his hand in bliss. "You just made my day, blondie."

Roxas popped a piece of the cinnamon flavored gum in his mouth. "Yeah, I live off this stuff."

Axel licked the silver wrapper that he'd gotten the gum from, and Roxas laughed. When he'd successfully gotten the cinnamon taste off the wrapper, Axel balled up the silver foil and tossed it at Riku's head (who was still sound asleep and not snorting anymore, thankfully). Riku's eye twitched when the foil bounded off his forehead.

Both boys began to giggle, and didn't stop even when the sub gave them a glare. After a few minutes their quiet snickering died down, and they both looked up to see the substitute looming over their desk. Axel wondered how long Mr. What's-his-face had been standing there.

"Boys, see me after class." The sub shoved his little pug nose into the air, and walked away with an attempt at looking important.

Roxas rolled his eyes, and Axel crossed his arms. "Is that the normal teacher?" Roxas asked, going back to add details to his drawing of his dog.

Axel shook his head. "No. He's just some cocky sub who no one's going to remember within five minutes of walking out of this class. We get those a lot here. The teachers don't really stick around much." Axel ripped off a small piece of his lined paper, and began to tear it into even smaller pieces, just to occupy his hands.

"So the teachers take regular breaks from you guys? Are you _that _bad?" Roxas eyed Axel with a glint of humor in his eyes.

Axel raised an eyebrow. "Roxas- welcome to Twilight Town Public High School. A.K.A. TTPHS. This isn't a normal school where the worst crime is stealing an iPod."

"By the way," Roxas asked, "What's your name?"

"Axel. A-X-E-L. Got it memorized?"

&!&!

Axel balanced his lunch tray on one had, while simultaneously tripping a freshman with his opposite foot. Axel smirked as the small boy stumbled. Tripping freshman was his favorite pastime; he even did it to others when he was a freshman himself. Without looking back at the kid he'd tripped, he strolled on and sat down at his usual table. Demyx was throwing food at Marluxia, and Zexion was reading a book. This was the normal scene during lunch, so Axel paid no mind to the food flying from Demyx's hands. He took his usual spot next to Zexion, and dug into his food, ravenous.

Demyx chucked a bit of potatoes at Marluxia, and they settled in his light pink hair. Marluxia groaned, pulled out the bit of food, and then wiped it on Demyx's arm.

"Demyx, that's disgusting. Eat your food instead of throwing it at me like a smelly gorilla!" Marluxia took a bite of his food, and scowled at Demyx while chewing.

Axel threw a pea at Marluxia. "Relax, plant boy. Here, have a pea. I hate them."

Marluxia managed to catch the pea in midair, and then threw it behind his shoulder with disgust. "Are you ever going to leave me alone about working at the family store?" Marluxia's parents owned a shop that sells plants, such as flowers, vegetables, and small trees. Marluxia worked there most of the time after school and on weekends, and he liked the work, which was exactly why Axel gave him hell for it.

Axel grimaced at his sort-of chicken nugget and stuffed it in his mouth, chewing obnoxiously. "Nope." At least the nugget didn't come with feathers and a beak, he mused.

Axel swallowed the nugget, and noticed Roxas walking around out of the corner of his eye. Roxas was running his eyes all over the cafeteria, looking for a place to sit. Axel was about to call Roxas over, but before he could say anything Roxas's face lit, and then the boy rushed over to a spot somewhere behind him. Axel glanced back to see where Roxas took off to, and watched him sit down by Hayner (the hot-head who didn't fight half the fights he claimed to), Pence (too smart and annoying for his own good), and Olette (way to goody-goody for this school).

Axel went back to his food, and stabbed a chicken nugget with his plastic fork. He internally rolled his eyes. What did Roxas and those losers have in common?

&!&!

"No, Paine. I don't want to hang out tonight." Axel paused a minute, half-listening while Paine prattled on about how she wanted to hang out with him.

He knew exactly what she meant by 'hang out,' and normally he'd be all over it, but he just wasn't feeling it tonight, and Paine wasn't buying it. "I'm sorry. Calm down, woman! We can just hang out this weekend, okay?"

Axel let out a sigh of relief when Paine finally calmed down. "Alright. Bye, babe."

He snapped his cell phone shut, and shoved it in his pocket forcefully. With his backpack dangling over one shoulder, he walked into the house, slamming the abused door behind him. His mom was in the kitchen, sitting on the counter and angrily eating a bowl of cereal. She hated cereal, so this meant they were out of food again.

"No food, huh?" He dropped his backpack onto a pile of shoes. "Maybe you should stop doing the guy of the week and work sometime so we actually have money to buy something to eat, huh?"

She gave him a look brimming with annoyance, and swallowed the bite in her mouth. "Don't give me that, you little prick. You know how hard I work for you." She grimaced as she shoveled more cereal into her mouth.

"It's not hard work to open your legs." Without waiting for her response, Axel ran up the stairs two at a time and locked his bedroom door behind him. He heard his mom yell something and slam her bowl into the sink, but he tuned her out. He lay down on his bed, and rolled over on his side. He glanced at the calendar on his wall, and groaned when he counted six more weeks until the school's next break.

Turning away from the calendar, he his thoughts wandered aimlessly until he briefly wondered what it would be like to have a mom like Roxas's.

He rolled onto his back and stared up at the ceiling. He soon was distracted by all the graffiti that littered it. He and Demyx had spray painted all of it up there two years ago when they were sophomores. It said stupid things that Axel could hardly even read, but he loved it there anyway. It gave his room character, but he mostly liked it because it pissed off his mom more than anything.

His thoughts wandered back to Roxas as he looked away from the graffitied ceiling.

What would it be like to have a mom like that? A nice one that didn't call him a prick, lousy, or lazy every three words?

He snorted.

Life would be so boring.

&!&!

The next day in first hour, Axel showed up ten minutes late. When he got into the class he was distraught, and everyone took notice, including Mr. What's-his-face. The substitute crossed his arms and gave Axel a wicked look.

"And where were you? I thought you would've wanted to grace us with your presence." The sub smiled cockily. Axel gave him a blank stare in return.

"Hey, pull whatever crawled up your butt out. I was late on account of girlfriend problems, not that you would know how that is." Axel adjusted his backpack, and then stomped back to his seat. The class burst out in hysterics at his insult, but he didn't join. He wasn't in a good mood, thanks to Paine. She'd found him that morning, and had attempted to yell at him in front of her friends for ditching her after school yesterday (and her friends all had smug, self-satisfied looks. They never liked him). Then she'd randomly switched gears from crazy yelling bitch to bitch that wanted to make out in front of everybody. Of course, Axel had pushed her away. He couldn't swing moods as fast as any girl could. Sometimes he had to admit he was impressed at how fast girl's moods would switch, especially Paine's, even though it annoyed him.

Roxas noticed his grumpiness. "You look happy." He idly began to scribble circles in his notebook.

"Ecstatic."

They were silent for a moment, and when Axel didn't say anything else Roxas spoke up. "Soo… feel like talking about it?"

Axel snorted. "It's nothing. Just my girlfriend. She's completely insane." He wasn't going to divulge the whole story to Roxas, whom he barely knew.

Roxas laughed and nodded, agreeing. "All girls are. Even my mom has her moments and she's usually the calmest, nicest person."

Axel smiled, glad for the turn of subject. Even though he'd only known Roxas for 24ish hours, the thing he liked most was that the kid tended to mind his own business. "Yeah, trust me, I know that one. My mom _is _one big moment."

The sub slapped a yardstick down their desk, and gave them stern looks down his nose. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't talk while I did." He crossed his arms. "The principal's coming in for an important announcement, so I'd like it if you at least paid attention to _that." _He stuck his nose in the air and walked back to the front of the class, and turned to face them all. "The principal will be in here soon," he announced to everyone.

"What's he coming to talk about?" Kairi asked. Unlike if someone else said it; there was no bite in her voice, so the substitute didn't respond with a snappy voice of his own.

He gave her a warm smile. "Well, I don't know that." His smile fell as he looked over the rest of the class. "Maybe one of you cretins did something." His eyes rested accusingly on Axel for a moment, and then kept going.

Axel noticed some students smile guiltily out of the corner of his eye.

Kairi sighed, ignoring the small bout of commotion in the class. She reached down and pulled a reading book out of her bag, and flipped it open. She occupied herself with it, ignoring everyone. She was one of the few people in the school that were annoyed with the wrong-doers. Everyone else just laughed about it, or were wrong-doers themselves.

A moment later, the door flew open and the principal walked in, blank-faced as usual. Their principal, Xemnas, was never nice, and never showed his emotion, unless it was a small, almost sadistic smirk when he was suspending someone. Axel chuckled quietly- he'd seen that smirk about a hundred times.

"Class, I regret to inform you that your teacher quit." His loud, deep voice cut across the classroom and stifled all other noises. "She spoke of a disrespectful class that threw things and wrote obscenities on the board when she wasn't looking. Plus, countless other things that shouldn't even me _mentioned, _let alone _done _in a school environment." He stared down every single person and gazed right into their eyes. "I hope you've been more respectful and becoming of your substitute teacher."

A couple kids in the back snickered, but cut off quickly when Xemnas shot a meaningful look at them.

"Am I wrong?" He asked the substitute. "Have they been ill-behaved?"

The sub nodded and swallowed, the adam's apple in his throat bobbing. His eyes were wide, and it was obvious that he held a slight fear of Xemnas's commanding presence. Out of everyone in the class, he was the only one.

Xemnas's mouth twitched. "I thought so." He looked back at the class and folded his arms in front of him. "In a week, you will be receiving a new teacher." He paused to see if there was a reaction from anyone. Axel glanced at everyone, and saw that no one was surprised in the least bit. Teachers quitting and new ones coming in to take their place wasn't rare.

Xemnas started to pace across the front of the room. "I've made sure that this teacher isn't going to be nice, isn't ever going to let you slack, and won't tolerate _any_," his voice raised in emphasis on the word 'any,' "rude and disruptive behavior!" He watched the class.

Axel smirked slightly when there still wasn't any reaction from the class, seeing as no one cared.

Xemnas nodded to Mr. What's-his-face and walked out without a word. When he left, the substitute visibly relaxed his stiff position. He even gave the class a smile of his own.

"Well, you heard him. There's going to be a new teacher that doesn't tolerate your BS." He cleared his throat, and attempted to stare down the class the way Xemnas had. "And until then, I won't tolerate it either."

Axel didn't believe it. Maybe the sub had that mindset now, but within ten minutes, it would be out the window.

&!&!

His timing was almost perfect. Ten minutes of paper rained down on the sub. Ten minutes of spit wads were shot at him. Ten minutes of people talking loudly and obnoxiously. And after those ten minutes of teacher hell, the sub broke his fabricated toughness.

The sub threw his chalk at the ground, and it shattered into pieces. "All right, I'm leaving! Class _dismissed!" _

Roxas looked at the clock, and slammed his notebook shut with a smile. "Twelve minutes early. Not bad." He shoved his stuff into his backpack, and stood up, flinging his backpack over his right shoulder.

Axel followed suit. "Hey, you wanna sit by my friends and me at lunch? I'm sure they'd dig you."

Roxas smiled apologetically and shrugged slightly. "Hey, sorry, I told Olette that I'd sit with them again." He rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "I think she likes me or something, which is weird because I've only known her for like, a day."

Axel laughed at this. "Olette? She's like, a serious goody-goody."

Roxas shrugged and glanced up at the clock. "Yeah, but she's nice."

"Well, just make sure that you come sit by me and my friends sometime, ok?" Axel offered.

Roxas nodded, and walked away with a smile and a wave. "I'll be sure to. See ya later." He turned around and filed out of the room with everyone else.

Axel waved goodbye to Roxas's back. The redhead felt a slight pang of jealousy. After all, he'd met Roxas first, so by default he should be the one to sit by him at lunch. Axel shoved past everyone and made his way out of the room, heading toward his second hour. He wasn't really in the mood to vandalize anything or piss anyone in particular off, so second hour it was.

&!&!

At dinner that night, Axel poked at the spaghetti noodles on his plate. His mom was across from him, fidgeting and more dressed up than normal. Usually at dinner she was in sweats and a tank top (usually with no bra, to Axel's disgust), but tonight something was different.

"Mom, will you quit twitching, it's irritating." He wrapped one of the noodles around his fork and shoved it into his mouth. "What are you so dressed up for, anyway?" He was almost afraid to know.

She mussed with her hair for about the millionth time that night. "I didn't tell you?"

"No…" Axel raised an eyebrow at her.

She rolled her eyes, as if he had said something stupid. "I have a date coming for dinner tonight, so I expect you to be on your _best _behavior."

"As if you could expect anything less from me." He blinked at her innocently. "After all, I _am _your birth control baby."

She scowled at him, but didn't respond.

She'd told Axel a couple times in his life that he was a mistake. She'd gotten pregnant with him while she was taking birth control, and she'd been forced to keep him when he was a baby because of her mom, Axel's now deceased grandmother. She was seventeen when he was born, and her parents would not let her put him up for adoption. And after she moved out, Axel didn't know why she didn't just put him up for adoption then. She complained about her life enough as it was, and how she never wanted kids.

It didn't bother him though, like it would most people. He wouldn't have minded either way; after all, he'd still be the same person and maybe, just maybe, if he'd been put up for adoption he wouldn't have been living in this shithole.

But, a long time ago he figured out there was no point in fussing about it. This was his life, no matter which way he looked at it.

The doorbell chimed through the house, and his mom jumped up, almost taking the whole table and her chair down. She rushed toward the door, and looked back at Axel with her hand lying on the doorknob. "Now, don't be a dumbass, because this guy's important to me."

Without waiting for him to respond, she opened the door with a swing of her arm. "Hey, honey." Her date walked in, and she stood up on her tippy toes and kissed the tall man on the cheek. "Welcome to my house." She held out her arms to take his jacket.

The man stepped in and removed his jacket, setting it gently into her waiting arms. He was about 6'4'', only a couple inches taller than Axel. His hair was raven black, and there were glasses perched on his bird-like nose. He looked like someone that was important, unlike everyone else that his mom dragged over for dinner.

He greeted Axel with a small nod. "Hello, I'm Nicolas. Who are you?"

Axel wasn't surprised that the man had no idea who he was. "I'm Axel, my mom's biggest mistake." He smiled sweetly at Nicolas.

She squeaked with embarrassment. "Oh, that's not true. He's my son. My only son." She stealthily shot Axel a glare. "And _not _a mistake, like he seems to think."

The man shrugged and looked away from Axel to his mom. "I've got two boys of my own; I know how they can be. If you would've told me you had a son, I could've brought them…"

She dismissed the idea with a wave of her hand. "Oh, no, tonight's about us." She turned to Axel with a sugar-sweet smile on her face. "Axel was just finishing up, weren't you dear?" She batted her eyelashes, but the look in her eyes told Axel that he needed to get his ass up to his room, or else.

Axel picked up his plate, and grabbed a carton of sea-salt ice cream out of the freezer on his way out. "Yup, wouldn't want to stick around for this anyway." He walked down the hallway, and yelled behind him, "Don't forget to lock the door on your way out, Nicolas!"

Axel shut himself in his room, making sure to turn up the TV extremely loud to block out the noises of their dinner, and the noises that were sure to come later in the night.

&!&!

**Like? Really Like? Dislike? Think I should continue? Please Review!**


	2. Pink, Frilly, and Not Manly

**Chapter Two. Yeah, It took me precisely fifty-nine days to get this out. Just blame it on EXTREME writer's block, ok? (and The Sims 2) Anywho, I'm using the fanfiction divider things now, and I hope they wanna work, cuz I don't want to have to sort throught the whole chapter to find where they go. That would suck D: This chapters setting up the plot, so it's not like ACTION BOOM BOOM EXPLOSION. Sorry ): But, it's important. **

**IMPORTANT NOTE: The main pairing in this _is _AkuRoku, but before they _really _get underway, there's going to be other short little pairings with Axel and Roxas with other people. I hope that doesn't bother any of you, because this will be AkuRoku, my plot just has a few bumps until it gets there of course ;). So don't be discouraged! Plus, I don't have any problem with Paine, Yuna, or Rikku; Olette does xD. I have no problems with ANY characters, some of them just have to fill in the bad guy slot. Catch my drift? OK :D**

**Disclaimer: I don't own. Yadda yadda. **

Chapter 2: _Roxas_

Cloud lazily flipped a page of Twilight Town's newspaper, 'Sunset Times.' He scanned the headlines, but everything he saw was depressing. It was theft this, shooting that. He set the hopeless newspaper down with a sigh, and looked at his two boys, who were shoveling into their cereal like they hadn't eaten in weeks.

"So, boys. Do you like your new school so far?" Cloud asked Sora and Roxas, still looking at his newspaper longingly, wishing there was something in it other than depressing headlines.

Sora shrugged, and shoveled another Godzilla-sized bite of fruity pebbles into his waiting mouth. He chewed, swallowed, and then answered. "I guess. I mean, the food _is _disgusting here, but the people are nice. Well, kind of. I have a slight feeling that this school is nurturing future criminal masterminds."

Cloud chose to ignore this. "What about you, Roxas?" He asked, glancing up at the blonde twin.

He shrugged. "Same old, same old. The food's gross- definitely not worse than Hollow Bastion, though- and the people like to cause trouble." He dropped his spoon into his cereal-less bowl of milk and it landed with a 'plunk' and a small splash. "Nothing new." He wiped a stray drop of milk of the table with the tip of his index finger.

Cloud grunted non-committingly and lifted up his newspaper for a second try at finding something interesting and not _too _depressing to read.

Roxas lifted the bowl to his lips, and drank the milk greedily from the bowl, downing it until every last drop was gone. "Mmm." He licked his lips when he was finished, and set the empty bowl back on the table. He felt Sora's eyes on him, and he glanced that way.

Sora was watching him with a disgusted look on his face.

"What?" Roxas asked, not understanding.

"Rox, you drink like a dog."

"No I don't." Roxas grabbed Sora's bowl of cereal and pulled it over. "See, dogs drink like this." He leaned down and lapped with his tongue at the milk and cereal in the bowl like a dog would.

"Ew, Roxas! That's gross!" Sora reached over and pulled his bowl away from Roxas, who was busy wiping drops of milk of his face. "That was my _breakfast, _thank you."

"You're welcome." Roxas got up and threw his bowl in the sink, causing everything to shift and clank, stirring Cloud from his newspaper.

"Roxas, don't throw your dishes into the sink. _Especially _when they're glass." Cloud watched Roxas sit back down over the top of his newspaper, giving his son an intimidating stare. "I thought I told you that already."

Roxas shrugged, and gave his dad a what-can-you-do look. "Sorry, pops."

Cloud sighed, and moved his newspaper up a few inches, blocking his sight from his sons. "I swear, those two are beasts in the morning." He grumbled, just loud enough for Roxas and Sora to hear.

"Yes dad, because you're such a beauty in the morning." Sora retorted. Cloud pretended not to hear him.

They all heard a car pull up into the driveway, and Cloud grimaced when they all heard a metal-on-metal clash from outside. "I'm guessing your mom's home, and I pray she didn't just dent the garage door."

"Again," added Sora.

Cloud, Sora, and Roxas impatiently waited for her to walk in with news about the state of the garage door. They saw a strange silhouette through the curtains, almost reminiscent of a lumpy, top-heavy person with chicken legs. The doorknob wiggled a bit, and the door slowly opened to reveal Aerith, Roxas and Sora's mother, struggling with four oversized shopping bags from the early bird sale at a store (Roxas didn't catch the name of the store) that she went to early this morning.

"Go help your mom, boys." Cloud said, obviously wary of the unknown contents in the bags. He'd seen his wife come home countless times with the most pointless things- she liked to shop, plain and simple. It was a good thing they were well off, or Aerith's shopping fetish would've put them on the streets a long time ago. But, despite being well off, Cloud still disapproved of how quick she was to flit from store to store and rapidly spend their hard-earned money. He was anti-shopping, so most of the disapproval came from the fact that he just didn't _understand _her love for shopping. He loved her dearly, but understanding her is another story.

Roxas and Sora hopped out of their chairs and took away half of their mother's load. Roxas threw his bag on the couch, not wanting to deal with its heftiness for more than a few moments. Sora threw his bag, which was a bit smaller, on the recliner.

"Yeesh mom, what the heck did you get?" Roxas turned around to face his mom, who was setting two large bags lightly on the loveseat.

"Well, this and that." She smiled at them, and placed her hands on her hips, and glanced at the bag Sora had set down on the recliner. "That one," She pointed at it, "has curtains for the whole house." She walked a few steps and opened the bag, pulling out light pink curtains one-by-one.

"Now, when you say 'whole house,' does that include our room?" Cloud asked from his spot by the table. From the look on his dad's face, Roxas could tell that Cloud didn't want pink curtains in his room. What man _would?_

Aerith nodded, not even looking up at her husband. "Yes, darling, our room too." She busily sorted through all the curtains, putting them into small little piles by which rooms they were to go in. She missed how Cloud's face fell into a look of utter doom, but the twins didn't.

"Aw, come on dad, it's only _light pink." _Roxas teased, and Sora joined in laughing.

"Hey, and dad, maybe you could get some pink, frilly, beaded pillows to match!" Sora added, and grabbed his gut from laughing so hard- mostly at the murderous look on Cloud's face. Truthfully, Sora wouldn't wish that upon _any _man.

Aerith didn't catch onto their sarcasm whilst she was busy sorting the piles. "Oh don't worry about that, Sora, I've already gotten some." She flashed him a quick smile and went back to her sorting.

The room got deadly silent as the three men turned their heads in Aerith's direction.

Cloud broke the silence. "You got what, honey?"

She looked up at him and smiled radiantly, like she'd just won the lottery. "I bought some pillows." She dropped the curtains and darted over to the two bags on the loveseat. "They're beautiful, really, and they match the curtains _perfectly, _but you know, with added touches like beads_…" _

"Perfect." Roxas mumbled sarcastically under his breath. He hoped they weren't going anywhere near his room.

She pulled out a couch pillow and presented it to them. It was square, had stripes of different hues of pink, with beaded accents on the borderline of each stripe. At the four corners of the pillows there were white tassels. "This one's for the couch. I've got a ton of them for the living room and for the master bedroom." She smiled, waiting for someone to say something.

"By master bedroom, you mean…" Cloud looked at her questioningly.

Aerith gave him a quizzical look. "Our room, Cloud." She giggled, and then handed the couch pillow to Roxas. He took it, and stared at it, trying to figure out whether he wanted to rip the pillow to shreds, or cry about the fact that he thought the pillows were the most atrocious things he'd ever seen.

She pulled out a cylindrical bed pillow, with much the same design, but instead of tassels there were little strings of beads going around the circles on the sides of the pillows.

"What kind of pillow is _that?" _Sora asked, never having seen a decorative pillow in that shape before.

Aerith chuckled. "Sora, it's a decorative pillow. It's meant to look pretty, not sleep on." She set the pillow back into the store bag.

Sora raised an eyebrow. When he thought pillow, he though fluffy rectangle with a cotton pillowcase that you sleep on. His imagination didn't stretch much further than that.

"So, this is what I'll be doing today." She clapped her hands and smiled. "When you boys get home from school and work, this house is going to look brand new!"

_That's a stretch. _Roxas thought sarcastically. _Considering that the house _is _brand new. _No matter how much he loved his mom, he was always wary of her when she turned into a decorative tornado. In all the houses they've lived in, there'd been every color in the rainbow as the main house color. This time, Aerith had gone for pink. Blue, possibly purple, he could live with, but pink… pink was a little much.

Roxas was considering asking his parents if he could have friends over, but since he now knew that he would be bringing them back to a cotton candy colored house that could give you a cavity just looking at it, he was thinking about changing his mind. He'd just met them and was still working on their impressions of him, but this wasn't the way to go. No way, he was going to wait until he knew them for awhile before they died laughing at his living quarters. And maybe- just maybe- he'd be able to laugh with them by then.

Cloud pushed himself from the table, and walked to where everyone else was gathered. His face was set normal, but when you looked at his eyes they were watching the newly purchased decorations disdainfully. "Honey, do I even want to know what all this cost? _Or _what's in the other bag?"

Aerith waved it off. "Oh don't worry too much about that, it was all on sale. For the most part. And the other bag just is towels and a shower curtain. All matching of course! We're _desperately _in need of a new one." She smiled and pecked Cloud on the lips. "I've got some decorating to do, especially since its Wednesday and the family's coming over Friday for our housewarming party." She resumed her task of sorting through the curtains.

Cloud checked his watch. "Alright boys, you two need to take off to school to make sure you get a parking space." He looked at his twin sons. "So go. I need to talk to your mom anyway."

Roxas snorted. "Dad, we're not in any rush, only like 10% of the students here actually _have _cars."

"Go." Cloud said sternly, glancing back and forth between Sora and Roxas. Aerith gave both of her boys a quick kiss on the cheek and said goodbye.

"Yessir." Roxas mock saluted his dad, and then walked over to the family's giant pile of shoes. He dug out a pair of black converse- whether they were his or Sora's he had no idea, but it didn't matter much because they both wore the same size. He sat on the ground and fought to get the shoe on his foot.

"Rox, it helps if you untie it." Sora pointed out, easily slipping on his untied black and blue tennis shoe. He knotted up his yellow laces.

Roxas stuck his tongue out. He never untied his shoes- he figured that it took longer to untie them, and then put them on, and then retie. There was too much work in that process.

Roxas grabbed his keys off the hook, grabbed his backpack off the ground, and tapped his foot impatiently, waiting for Sora to finish getting his shoes on. He made a show of being impatient, seeing how Sora made a show of not untying his shoes.

When Sora was finally finished, they both waved goodbye to their parents, and took out to Roxas's car.

They had a large four stall garage, each having their own car. Roxas's was one of the middle cars, a medium sized black pickup truck. On the left of his was Sora's car, a brand new hybrid that was broken down for reasons still unbeknownst to them. They had yet to take it to a repair shop (or even find a credible repair shop near them).

Sora and Roxas hopped schools frequently- mostly poverty-stricken schools because their mom had a love for teaching underprivileged kids. And at this school, just like most of the other high schools they've attended; only very few of the teens drove. Most usually took the bus- which Cloud hadn't _ever _felt comfortable having Roxas and Sora on. They didn't know what his big deal was; he just didn't like the bus.

So Sora and Roxas had made their own schedule for driving. They car-pooled together, trading off cars every week. But now, since Sora's was broken down, they took Roxas, which Sora loathed. He didn't like the way Roxas drove (like an idiot, as he'd so nicely describe it). Roxas really didn't care.

Sora stepped into the front seat, kicking some Taco Bell garbage on Roxas's floor out of his way. "You need to clean your-"

"Can it, Sora." Roxas interrupted his brother (who he thought was insanely whiny sometimes) as he climbed into the driver's seat of his truck. He buckled himself in and started the car.

He backed out of the garage carefully, and when he was out he floored down the driveway, scaring Sora half to death.

"_Dammit, _Roxas!" Sora clung to the seat for dear life, thinking about driving to school every day with Roxas, and what he wanted to put on his will.

* * *

Roxas slammed his truck door shut, and heard Sora to the same, albeit not as nice as he did. "Hey! Sora, be nice to him, he's driving to school until you get your little tin can fixed." Roxas patted his sturdy truck.

Sora appeared around the front of the truck. "My car is not a _tin can, _thank you. It's a hybrid, meaning I'm contributing less to the death of the world." Sora glanced at the truck out of the corner of his eye. "Unlike you."

Roxas laughed, and locked his truck with the keypad. He stuffed his keys in his pocket, patting them. He kept them close, fearing someone stealing his keys, and ultimately his truck. He didn't kid himself, he knew the crime rate at this school, and after bumping back and forth in schools like this he'd learned it's better to be safe than sorry. He'd never had anything important stolen from him before- but that's because he didn't bring anything worth stealing to school in the first place.

"Roxas!"

Olette's voice rang out at him from a picnic table to his left. She was sitting with Hayner and Pence, who waved him over with a smile. So far, he'd only known the three for about two days, but they'd immediately become accepting of him.

He sat down next to Pence, who had a math book opened up on his lap.

"Pence, why are you studying?" Roxas asked as he set down his backpack. He noticed Pence studying a lot, which he didn't get. Pence was a smart guy, why did he feel he needed to study so much?

Hayner rolled his eyes at Pence. "He said that last term Naminé and Kairi beat him for the highest grade in Algebra II."

"I'm determined to not let that happen this term." Pence flipped a page of the large textbook.

"Again." Hayner teased.

Olette hit Hayner on the shoulder. "Hayner, be nice. He's trying," she chided him. He scoffed, and his attention turned elsewhere.

"_Thank you, _Olette." Pence mumbled in thanks, briefly glaring Hayner's way. "_Some people _don't understand the importance of good grades."

"Well, obviously Kairi and Naminé do, if they've beaten you out every single term so far." Hayner argued. "I'm pretty sure there's no hope for _anyone _to beat them grade-wise."

"Hayner!" Olette scolded him, but it went ignored.

Pence closed his book, and looked up at Hayner with a raised eyebrow. "Well, I'm sure that if your brain was a little less full of porn, you might actually stand a chance as well." Pence shoved his math book into his backpack forcefully, even though his face looked calm. "I'm going somewhere quieter to study." He stood up and walked away without looking back.

"Try the library!" Hayner called after him, "Naminé and Kairi might be there!"

Roxas stood there awkwardly while he watched the two friends fight. When Pence was out of sight, Hayner huffed and crossed his arms.

He looked at Roxas and Olette with a look that begged for sympathy. "Did you hear what he just said to me?" Hayner whined at them.

Olette's face hardened. "Did you hear what _you _said to him?" She asked. If Olette wasn't such a nice person, her voice would probably be dripping venom. But, as it were, she was just giving him a frosty glare. "Do you have to be such a butthole to him?"

He recoiled a little bit under her dirty look, and hastily threw his backpack over his shoulder. "Geez, so-orry Olette, didn't know you felt so strongly about him." Hayner sauntered away, keeping what dignity he had left after getting scolded by a girl.

When he was out of earshot, Olette sighed dejectedly and brushed a stray piece of brown hair behind her ear. "I just don't get those two. They used to be like this," she intertwined her index finger and her middle finger in a gesture of closeness, "and ever since Pence started being a bookworm Hayner's changed." She crossed her arms and looked over to where Hayner was chatting pleasantly with Rikku, Yuna, and Paine, three best friends that were practically attached at the hip.

Roxas didn't have much experience with fighting between friends. He'd always move from school to school- and he never spent nearly time enough to make a deep relationship with someone. Despite the occasional whiny-ness, Sora was his best friend and his twin brother, and their fights were few and far between. He wished he had something clever to say to comfort Olette, but there was nothing. "Do you think maybe Hayner feels left out because of Pence focusing more on studying?" That was the impression he'd been getting from the two.

"Hm." Olette made a noise of agreement. "That's possible- I mean, they used to hang out all the time." She looked back over to Hayner and wrinkled her nose, seeing him getting close with Rikku. "I don't like seeing Hayner with them," she stated.

Roxas's eyebrow twitched upward. He'd though for sure in the past couple days that Olette started to develop a crush on him, but now it was starting to sound more and more like she was crushing on Hayner. Not that it bugged him- he knew that she'd known Hayner much longer. "Oh? Why's that?"

"They're just…." She shrugged morosely. "First of all, Yuna's not a bad person- honestly. She's actually pretty nice and smart (compared to some of the people in this school…). Rikku… she's a little bit of a floozy."

Roxas snorted, amused at her word choice. "Floozy?"

"Promiscuous, tramp, whore, skank, you know what I mean."

Roxas grinned. "Anyway, Rikku's a floozy, go on."

"Yeah, anyway. I guess she's not a bad person, I just don't agree with loose morals." Olette paused, staring off to where the four were chatting.

"And Paine?"

Olette laughed humorlessly. "Wow, where do I start?" She thought for a moment, putting her words together. "All F's, _extremely loose _morals, and not very nice."

"So she's a slutty bitch." Roxas finished, bluntly.

"I guess you could say that." Roxas was quickly gathering that Olette wasn't one to use foul language, which he respected. She continued, "She's actually dating someone, and has been for about two months. Last I knew, her relationships only lasted about a week. From a bystanders point of view, she's a 'hit it and quit it' kind of girl."

"And he's still with her?" Roxas asked.

Olette made a sound of amusement. "Yeah, and it's funny, because he's the same way. They're almost exactly alike: They ditch school, they fail all their classes, and they get into relationships for the sex."

Roxas was a bit surprised at how blunt Olette was. He quickly came to the conclusion that she _really _didn't like these people. Even though he sensed she didn't want to talk about it anymore, his interest was already peaked and he wanted to know who this guy was. "So who's her boyfriend?"

Olette didn't hide the disgust on her face. "His name's Axel. He's basically the scum of the school."

Roxas quirked an eyebrow at this. Surely, she couldn't be talking about the Axel in his 1st hour. He didn't _seem _like the scum of the school. "What makes him so bad, exactly?"

Olette narrowed his eyes at Roxas like he was joking. "Didn't you just hear me? He's a man whore, ditches school a lot, and he's been sent to the office who knows how many different times for bunches of different things. I swear, if he left this town the crime rate would drop severely." She snapped the last part, and began glaring at Hayner and the three girls, who began to walk into the school together. Hayner's arm was draped over Rikku's shoulder playfully, and from Roxas's point of view it looked strange because Hayner was so much shorter than her. He was practically walking on his tip-toes.

Roxas watched her for a moment, and put together the pieces of everything she just said in his head. "So, you're afraid of Hayner losing himself and becoming like Axel and them, aren't you?"

Her chuckle lacked humor. "Wow, Roxas. You're spot on."

He draped an arm over her shoulder, being friendly. He figured he wasn't risking anything by doing this, because she liked Hayner. He was just being friendly- that's the kind of guy he is. "Don't worry about it, Olette. You just have to remind him why you all were friends in the first place."

Her face brightened. "Roxas, you're brilliant!"

"I am?" He was stunned, not knowing how exactly he was so brilliant.

She smiled up at him and began talking happily for the first time that morning. "There's this spot we all used to hang out- the Usual Spot."

Roxas raised an eyebrow at her. "The usual spot?"

She nodded. "Yeah, it's a place we discovered when we were little kids. It's kind of a little room in a back alley that we decorated to make our own. We haven't been there in years. It's always been the 'headquarters' of our friendship." She sighed happily, thinking of memories. "If going there doesn't remind them of why they're best friends, I don't know _what _will." She wrapped her arms around Roxas's neck and hugged him tightly. "Thanks Roxas!"

She pulled away quickly, and picked up her backpack. With a wave and a smile to Roxas, she took off inside the school building, leaving him alone on the picnic table. He smiled, happy to be of help to his new friends. His smile slowly fell as a realization set over him. It didn't matter _what _he did to help these people, he was guaranteed to have to leave this school in a few months.

He was proud of his mom and her ambitions to teach kids in schools with bad educations, such as this one. He thought it was great that she was giving so much to little kids, but moving every couple months drove him crazy. His mom was a giving, loving person, but sometimes she missed her own needs, and the family's needs. What he and Sora wanted was to stay in one school instead of moving around every few months and to make friends without having to leave them soon after. When Roxas started realizing that every time he'd make a good friend he'd lose them soon after because of moving, he stopped trying to make good friends. Right now, he just wanted friends so he wouldn't be miserable for the small term that he'd be at each school.

But even that was starting to bug him. He _wanted _good friends, but he didn't want the pain of leaving them behind, and he didn't want them to feel the pain of him leaving.

He saw the school grounds clearing out as people filed into the school. He sighed and grabbed his back pack, which was leaning lazily against the leg of the picnic table. As he walked toward the battered and well-worn school, he was distressed knowing that his days here were numbered, like every other school he'd attended.

* * *

When Roxas arrived to his first hour class, there was 30 seconds to the bell and the class was about three quarters empty. Kairi was there, reading a large book, plus a few other students who were either doodling or throwing a ball of paper in the air mindlessly to pass the time. Axel was there as well; his head was on the desk, and Roxas would only assume that he was sleeping. From the things Olette told him, this didn't surprise Roxas in the least bit. If everything she said was actually true, Axel was probably a chronic sleeper at school.

When he reached his shared table, he lifted his backpack so it was about a foot over the desk, and then dropped it, startling Axel out of his seat and onto the tile floor.

As soon as Axel's butt hit the floor, Roxas bursted out laughing. Axel glowered at him from on the floor, rubbing his elbow from where it had made contact with the ground. He pushed himself off the dirty tile, and 'humph-ed' back into his seat.

"What was that for?" Axel asked, still rubbing his abused elbow.

Roxas settled into his seat, and pushed his backpack onto the floor. "I don't know," he answered. "Why were you sleeping in school?"

Axel looked at him. "Why not?" He motioned toward the clock. "School hasn't _actually _started yet."

The bell chimed throughout the room, and Axel shot Roxas an 'I-told-you-so' look. Late students began to rush into the classroom, some of them practically throwing themselves into their seats and looking around nervously for the substitute, knowing they were late. Others rolled in casually, sitting down in their seat nonchalantly and propping their feet onto the graffitied desks.

The substitute with the pug nose (Roxas hadn't bothered to learn his name. He disliked substitutes as much as the next person) sauntered in the room, staring everyone down.

"Setzer, feet off the desk." He commanded, staring the Struggle Champion down. "It's rude to have your feet up when an adult is in the room."

"I do believe sir, that I am an adult as well." Setzer countered, being 18 years old. He left his feet up, visibly agitating the substitute.

The substitute responded, not hiding his annoyance. "Okay, fine. It's rude to have your feet up when there's a teacher in the room."

"That's an unfair statement, sir. Technically, you're not a real teacher. You're just a fill-in. A poor one at that, I might add."

The sub's eye twitched. He lowered himself down into the seat carefully, frowning at Setzer the whole way. He eventually took his eyes away from the cocky young adult, and addressed the rest of the class.

"Fortunately for me, you're all beginning a movie today." He smiled as the class cheered and pumped their fists into the air.

"But, _unfortunately _for you, you'll be answering questions the entire time regarding what you'll be watching."

A collective groan released from the students. Some people wadded up paper and threw it at the substitute, who didn't even flinch.

_Ahh, he's learning, _Roxas noted.

The sub began to grin wickedly at them. "I was also told to inform you that the movie was _highly _educational. And you'll be watching it for the next three days. And _that _means I only have one day left where I have to actually deal with you cretins." He leaned backward in the chair, feeling self-important. And just to show off the little bit of superiority he had, he put his large, mud-caked feet onto the desk.

Setzer felt the need to comment. "Sir, I believe you told me it's rude to put your feet up in the presence of an adult. As I am an adult, I feel offended."

The substitute wrinkled his nose at Setzer, but was at a loss for a comeback. The class noticed this, and began laughing at him trying to fumble for something to say. He scowled, and picked up the remote. "I'm starting the movie now, so if somebody could get their lazy behind out of a chair and shut the lights off I would be somewhat grateful."

No one got up, and after a few moments of awkward silence, Kairi stood up. "I'll get them." She walked up to the front of the room, flicked the lights off, and then went back to her seat.

"Thank you, Kairi. Much appreciated." He smiled at her, and in the dim light, Roxas thought he looked like a creepy pedophile. He shuddered, and looked away from the man.

"Now," The substitute began to talk to them, "I'm going to pass out the sheets. They're long, _in-depth _questions, so at least try to do your best. I know that's not much, but, this is a big grade (not like I care)."

Axel leaned over slightly and whispered, "Is it just me, or has this son-of-a-bitch gotten cockier in the past two days? Two days ago he was stuttering too much to even understand."

Roxas nodded in agreement. "I think the class is toughening him up, huh?" He elbowed Axel playfully. "I bet it was your comment yesterday about him not knowing what girlfriend problems were like."

Axel chuckled deeply. "Yeah, that comment hit him where it counts, I could tell."

They both hushed as the object of their conversation walked by, flinging worksheets onto their desk. When he was out of earshot, Axel began whispering to Roxas again.

"So, you're going to sit by me and my friends at lunch today, right?" Axel smiled theatrically. "You're either going to like them, or want to avoid them for the rest of your life. It's an offer you can't resist!"

Roxas laughed quietly. "Alright, alright. I will, since you insist. Please tell me your friends aren't going to be _too _mean to me." He fake-pouted.

Axel chuckled. "No, they won't be, I promise. I think you'll like them. Marluxia's kind of a snob, but he's a good friend despite the fact that he loves plants and wants to study botanism, botanny, or what the fuck ever it's called."

"Botany, Axel. The study of plants, am I right?"

Axel waved his hand, gesturing he didn't know. "Who knows? Either way, I call him plant boy. Zexion is a bookworm. He reads. A lot. Anything and everything. And he doesn't talk often. And then… there's Demyx." The way Axel said it insinuated that Demyx was someone Roxas should be wary of.

"What's Demyx like?"

Axel raised an eyebrow at Roxas, and laughed, as if at his own inside joke. "Demyx is Demyx. Hyper, bouncy, loveable, but if you give him an inch to be your friend, he jumps a mile by being friendly, sometimes slightly annoying. But, like I said, he's loveable. And a good friend when he's not bouncing off the walls."

"Can't wait to meet them." Roxas meant it. Axel's friends sounded like a mismatched bunch of people, and that captured his interest. He was all for meeting new people. His mind wandered to that morning, when Olette had told him her observations on Axel and Paine. "Hey, don't you have a girlfriend? I didn't hear you mention her."

Axel shrugged indifferently. "She sits with her friends Yuna and Rikku at lunch. We don't talk much during school, just mostly outside of it."

"Oh." He didn't talk more on the subject with Axel. But, he couldn't help but wonder, was Axel _really _the way Olette had described? From Roxas's point of view, he didn't seem bad at all. But, then again, Roxas wasn't a good friend of Axel's. Would Axel act differently around his own friends?

Roxas was interested to find out, wanting to see if Olette's opinion about Axel being the scum of the school was worth deeming true or not.

But, he'd have to wait until lunch to find out.

* * *

It took Roxas less than a second to locate Axel. His hair was like a beacon in the sea of blondes and brunettes; it was extremely easy to spot. He took the long way around the side of the cafeteria to avoid running into Hayner, Olette, or Pence, who didn't know that he wasn't going to sit by them today. He didn't think they'd care too much, but it was still a conversation that he'd rather not have.

The four friends occupied the end of a table. Facing Roxas were Axel and a kid he didn't know. The kid had slate colored hair that covered one eye, and he was reading a book. Going by what Axel had told him in 1st hour, the kid reading the book was Zexion. He looked slightly emo, but that didn't really bother Roxas. He'd encountered all different personality types. He could only see the backs of the other two friends, but the first thing he noticed was that one had pink hair. He looked to the other, who sported a dirty blonde faux-hawk. From Axel's descriptions, he couldn't tell who Demyx was and who Marluxia was, but he knew he'd find out soon. Axel had an empty space next to him, and Roxas presumed it was left empty for him. He sat down, and Axel gave him a welcoming smile.

"Hey Roxas!" Axel greeted him, and scooted over to make a little more room. "Everyone," He addressed the others at the table, "this is Roxas. He's new."

Zexion raised an eyebrow at this. "New? Since when do you get warm and fuzzy with a cheechako?" He looked up from his book at Axel.

"A which what?" The faux-hawked teen asked.

"Cheechako. Meaning newcomer." Zexion slyly rolled his eyes and went back to reading whatever it was he was reading. All Roxas really noticed was that the book was _big, _and that's when he looked away. It gave him a headache looking at it.

"God Zex, are you reading a fucking dictionary?" Axel asked, leaning forward to see the title of Zexion's book.

"No." Zexion moved his book slightly to the right, away from Axel's face. "Moby Dick."

"What about a dick?" The guy with pink hair appeared to have tuned into the conversation at that moment. Roxas giggled.

"Nothing." Axel waved it off. "Marly, this is Roxas."

'Marly' nodded at Roxas. "It's Marluxia." He sent a glare Axel's way, and Roxas knew automatically to never call him Marly. At least to his face, that is.

Axel ignored him, and moved his attention toward the faux-hawked teen, the only person that Roxas had yet to learn the name of. "And this little bubble of energy is Demyx. Careful, he throws food."

Marluxia scoffed, and flipped his hair back in an un-manly like way. "Yes, he seems to think that I look good with mashed potatoes in my hair."

Demyx rolled his eyes dramatically. "No, Marluxia, it's not that. I just think the way you squeal like a girl. It's funny!" Demyx threw a green bean at Marluxia for emphasis.

When the bean hit Marluxia, he squealed- very much like a girl. Everyone except for the pink haired drama king (and Zexion, who was reading) burst out into laughter, only to be interrupted by Marluxia growling at them.

This only made everyone laugh harder, and Demyx chucked a French fry at Marluxia, and it settled into a layer of his pink hair. Marluxia rushed to get it out, pulling at his hair to sift the fry out that seemed to have gotten lost for a moment.

Roxas dug into his lunch, not too worried about how this lunch and his first meetings with Axel's friends would turn out. He just hoped that he wouldn't have to pick French fries out of his hair.

And despite what Olette said, he really didn't see Axel as such a bad guy. Axel's girlfriend, Paine, was also nowhere to be seen. Maybe Olette had her facts wrong. It was possible, because after all, Olette watched from the outside like he'd done most of his life.


	3. Pain in the form of Paine

A/N: Alright, Ch. 3. There's a minor change that I think everyone should be aware of. The chapters used to be named Axel, Roxas, yadda yadda. But now, the just have chapter-ey names. I have more freedom writing this story when I'm not restricted to one character's viewpoint during a chapter.

And I also realize that I'm slow at updating, but I'm taking this at my own dear sweet pace. :D School's crazy, and I'm slightly frustrated at the writing world right now. But I won't give up, I don't wanna leave this hanging.

Also, there's a poll in my profile I'd love if everyone checked out :D

Enjoy!

* * *

_Chapter 3: Pain in the form of Paine_

By the time school was out that Wednesday, Axel was strangely at a loss for what to do. Normally he had _something, _but today, strangely, there was absolutely nothing. He hadn't talked to Paine at all (and he was still deciding whether that was a good or bad thing) and all of his friends decided to be busy today. He sighed, throwing his backpack down onto a sidewalk bench that inhabited the park area he was in. He plopped down on the bench, making the boards bend and stress uncomfortably under the pressure.

He crossed his arms, and let his eyes wander around, not really looking at anything. After school, he'd asked Marluxia if he wanted to do anything, but no. Marluxia had to work at the plant store all day today. Zexion was busy doing whatever Zexion does in his spare time- Axel didn't know exactly _what _it was Zexion did, and was still skeptical about whether he wanted to know or not. Who knows, underneath the bookworm façade, Zexion could be into hardcore pornography.

Axel snorted, shaking his head slightly. He seriously doubted that Zexy was into pornos. As mysterious as Zexion's bat cave of a room was (the one time Axel could go to Zexion's place, he wasn't allowed in the teen's room for unknown reasons), he knew sex was most likely the last thing on the student's mind.

And Demyx… well… he didn't even bother asking. He wasn't in the mood to deal with hyper-bouncy boy today, but maybe, _just maybe _if he got bored enough he'd be able to handle it.

After about three minutes of people-watching, Axel decided he was bored enough to call Demyx. He picked up his backpack, and sauntered home, keeping a lookout for someone he knew.

* * *

Surprisingly, the front door of his house was locked, and Axel had to dig his house key out of the deep confines of his backpack. Usually his trampy mother was home, either eating bananas or watching _Desperate Housewives. _He opened the chipped and scratched-to-hell door, barely noticing the door creak on the hinges. It'd been doing that for so long the annoying noise was on the back of his mind. So far, nothing looked out of the ordinary. The house was clean, but cluttered with various alcohol bottles that he and his mom loved so much. Sometime he'd get around to returning them, but not today.

He threw his backpack on the loveseat, and glanced around, trying to find some sort of note or something telling him where his mom went. Not that he cared, of course.

When he didn't see anything in particular that told him of Momzilla's whereabouts, it didn't bother him too much.

Maybe she wouldn't come back?

He snorted. If only. Axel made his way over to the fridge, still looking out of the corner of his eye for some scrap of paper left behind showing that his mom cared enough to let him know where she went. As much as he told himself that he didn't care, something still nagged at him, and he had no desire to figure out why he had that feeling.

At. All.

He opened the fridge, and was greeted by three things. There was a half empty pint of strawberries, a new half-gallon of milk, and a 12 pack of beer, also new.

Apparently Momzilla went shopping. He groaned and reached for the strawberries. This was why _he _liked to do the grocery shopping. Out of town of course; he wouldn't be caught dead in a grocery store by one of his friends or the people at school. Grocery shopping does not go hand in hand with a badass reputation.

After a quick snack on strawberries (he would've preferred something else), Axel searched a quick few minutes for the phone before he remembered that he could beep it. He pressed the 'find' button on the phone's cradle, and followed the noise, where he found the phone buried in the couch cushions.

He didn't even want to think about how the phone could've possibly gotten pushed that deep into the couch. Knowing his mom, it wasn't something that he'd want to think about.

He shuddered, accidentally thinking about it.

He slowly dialed Demyx's number, hoping that it was right. In the middle of the first ring, Demyx answered.

"_Demyx here!" _Demyx's loud voice figuratively punched Axel in the ears.

"Hey Dem. What are you going today?" Axel moved himself over to the loveseat, away from the couch he found the phone in.

"_Hey Axel!"_ Demyx shuffled a bit and Axel heard a door slam in the background. _"I'm actually not doing anything… Zexion was supposed to help me with my Bio work, but he bailed. He didn't give a reason why, but whatever. I'd rather not know, because it'd ruin his mysteriousness. Oooooooh." _Demyx's voice rose and fell octaves in his attempt to sound spooky. _"Why? Do you want to do something? Don't have a date with Paine? Why not? Where do you want to go?"_

Axel pulled the phone away from his face, still hearing his blonde friend clearly. "Ok Skippy, shut it for like two seconds. Yes, I want to hang out with you… god forbid. No, I don't have a date with Paine. But I should set one up soon so she doesn't get pissed, now that I think about it. I don't have a date with her because I don't feel like it. And as for where I want to go? I don't know. How about we figure that out when you get here."

"_Okay!" _Click.

Axel twitched an eyebrow up in the air, and hung up the phone. He walked over and set it back on its cradle, watching the device light up. He turned around and looked at the fridge, trying to give himself x-ray vision so he could gaze at the 12 pack that it held.

He had absolutely no reason to drink right now, but…

Wait, scratch that. He was about to go hang out with Demyx. It wouldn't hurt to have one drink in him, now would it? It _would _loosen him up a bit, and make whatever he was about to go through a _little _more fun. Axel smirked, and opened the fridge for a beer. He took it out, opened it, and chugged it within a few seconds.

He quickly felt the magic flow through his veins, and smiled pleasantly at the feeling.

Axel plopped on the loveseat (still avoiding the couch), deciding to sit and watch TV until Demyx arrived. He grabbed the remote off the coffee table and flipped the TV on. He grew increasingly agitated seeing that nothing was on, and settled for an extremely old episode of That 70's Show.

Not long after that, Demyx bursted through the door, holding his arms out dramatically. "Axxeeey, I'm home!"

Axel glanced over at him, then back to the TV. "If this was your home too, I'd live in hell. Just sayin."

Demyx stuck his tongue out, and then sat down on the toxic couch. Axel didn't say anything. "So, where we going?"

"Well gee; we still have to figure that out, don't we?" Axel scratched his head, trying to look thoughtful. "Let's see. We could go bother plant boy?"

Demyx wrinkled his nose. "Not a good idea. Last time I did that, his parents came in and kicked me out of the store. They're scary people, I'll tell ya. Hey, where's your mom?" The quick shift of subject confused Axel momentarily.

He shrugged. "Most likely off fucking her newest boy toy. He looks uptight. You know, like one of those prudes that walk like they have a stick up their ass? I can't stand people like that."

Demyx pondered this for a brief second. "That doesn't seem like your mom's normal type. He sounds like a business-man type. Is she gold digging or something?"

Axel snorted. "Wouldn't surprise me. Hey! Maybe this is a good thing, because it would get me out of this shithole!" He pumped a fist in the air sarcastically, and Demyx laughed at him.

"Ok! Be happy your mom's fucking the rich guy!" Demyx twisted sideways and flopped backward onto the toxic couch. "Say, how long's she been gone?"

Axel shrugged, attention getting slightly lost in Fez, who was talking in his accent on TV. "I don't know. She was gone when I got home. Maybe she won't come back?"

"Wanna snoop?"

"Snoop where?"

"Where do you think, fire crotch, in your mom's room! Who knows what kind of scary surprises she's got there!"

Axel stuck out his tongue. "UGH! I don't even want to know, Demyx! That's _my mom _we're talking about; I don't want to know anything about her bedroom life! She already took it out here onto that couch!" He pointed to the very couch that Demyx was sitting on.

Demyx yelped and leaped dramatically off the couch. "You could've told me that before I sat down, assbucket! Now I've got your mom's nasty who-knows-what all over me!" He dramatically wiped off his entire outfit, sticking his tongue out and making entertaining noises of pure disgust the whole time. "Now I have to wash my clothes and take another shower. Great, just great."

Axel snickered at Demyx's misfortune. "Well I'm sorry. So about that snooping in my mom's room, are you sure you still want to do that?"

"No." Demyx's answer was instantaneous. Axel had scarred him, as per planned. You couldn't pay Axel enough to even _walk _into his nasty mom's room.

Demyx continued, "How about we go visit Marluxia? I'm sure he's bored stiff at the weed farm." Demyx sniggered. "Haha, weed farm. That's funny, I'm funny."

"You totally kicked down my plain when I said that." Axel commented. Demyx just shrugged. Axel remembered last time they went there. Not only did they get kicked out by Marluxia's parents, but Demyx got 'attacked' (or so he thinks) by a Venus Fly Trap. It had just gone after the blonde's wallet chain that touched its little fangy-things, and Demyx had flipped a shit. He ended up knocking down an entire row of potted petunias.

Now _that _was funny. At least until they had been dragged out from their ears by the pink-haired crazies. And while they were violently dragged by their appendages, their 'best friend' wept helplessly over his poor spilled petunias. They felt so unloved.

And then afterword, they went to get pizza- Demyx's treat.

Axel jumped off the loveseat, startling Demyx slightly. The thought of pizza after going to the weed farm was enough to make him even want to go. "Well, what are you waiting for; let's go to the weed farm! Who knows, maybe Marly will give us a free tulip."

"Yeah," Demyx retorted, "only if it's dead or full of insect holes."

"Oh come on, he loves me more than that."

* * *

Marluxia placed the tulips precariously into the bouquet, slowly putting them into a pattern by their colors, which he thought showed off the essence of summer. He reached for another yellow tulip to place in the center, but quickly noticed a fatal flaw in it: there was a very obvious hole in one of the petals. He fumed at it, wishing a squashed death upon the insect that did this monstrosity.

His peace was quickly interrupted by the door chiming, and Marluxia quickly looked up to see who had come to the store to browse. His previously interrupted peace completely flew out the door when he saw two of his least favorite hooligans (although his best friends _outside _of the store) walk in. "What are you two doing here?" He asked, drumming his fingers on the counter impatiently.

Axel frowned. "What, I'm ok to be seen with at school, but here I'm not?" He crossed his arms, rolling his eyes theatrically. "I swear plant boy, it seems like every day you love me less and less." He spotted Demyx getting near the petunias (he only knew what they were because of Demyx knocking them over last time), and quickly grabbed the blonde's shoulder. "Hey dumbass, we're trying _not _to get kicked out this time, so stay away from the petunias and the Venus Fly Trap. "Kay?"

Demyx sighed dejectedly, but quickly took a spot next to Axel's side. "Hi Marly!" He greeted Marluxia, who was still looking at them impatiently.

"Listen, you guys are my friends and all, but if you don't buy some flowers, then I'll have to kick you out for loitering. And trust me; me kicking you out is a lot less painful then my parents kicking you out." Marluxia crossed his arms, sighing. "They were making a delivery, and they should be back any minute."

Axel looked around for something remotely interesting worth buying, and tried to recall how much money he had in his pockets. If he remembered right, it was about 225 munny. "What can I get for about 200 munny?" He was going to save the 25 munny for a gumball later when he and Demyx (hopefully) went to go get pizza. He pulled the munny out of his pocket and showed it to Marluxia.

Marluxia looked a little shocked when Axel pulled out the munny. "Wait... you're actually going to buy something?" His eyebrow perked up.

Demyx also looked a bit shocked. "Yeah, you're actually getting something? I thought we were just coming here to bug him." Marluxia sighed, but it went ignored. "I figured we were going to get pizza after this, and you could pay."

"Demyx, I only have 225 munny. How about I take care of the fee of keeping us in here, and you take care of the pizza?" Axel knew it was an uneven trade- pizza cost about 1300 munny. He was hopeful that Demyx wouldn't notice the scam (and it was that moment that he realized he wasn't that great of a best friend).

"Okay!" Demyx agreed.

Axel smiled at him and looked back at Marly. "So, 200. What can I get with that?"

Marluxia glanced around the store, and finally at the bouquet in behind him. There were plenty of things that were priced below 200 munny, but it's not like Axel knew that. His eyes settled on the insect eaten flower, and he picked it up, grinning devilishly in his mind (and at this moment, _he _realized he wasn't that great of a best friend). "Well, this costs exactly 200 munny. It's not much, but you know, if you seriously want to buy it..."

"Are you gunna kick us out if I don't buy it?"

"Me or my parents, yes."

"Then I'll take it. Maybe I'll give it to Momzilla." Axel walked over to the counter and placed the munny in Marluxia's hand. Marluxia handed over the flower, waiting for Axel to notice that there was a hole in it. The redhead remained oblivious.

"Hey Axel?" Demyx piped up.

"What?"

"I think there's an insect hole in that flower." Demyx took the flower, and showed Axel the hole. "Hehe Axel, it looks like he doesn't even love us enough to give us a holey tulip for free- he had to charge you."

Axel finally noticed the hole. "Plant boy, you're officially a bitch."

* * *

After about 10 minutes in the plant store, Demyx and Axel were officially and tragically bored. With Marluxia's parents breathing down their necks from the second they got back to the store, Axel and Demyx felt the constant need to get out of the stuffy, plant filled place. They left for the pizza place after they'd had enough of the pink-haired denizens. When they got to the pizza place, they took a booth without waiting for an attendant to seat them (ooh, what rebels). When asked for their order, they knew right off the top of their heads; large supreme pizza, extra jalapenos on one side for Axel, extra sausage on the other for Demyx.

But that was now twenty minutes ago. Axel was getting impatient, and Demyx was starting to eat salt packets he was so hungry.

"Axel, why are they taking so long?" Demyx whined, opening another salt packet. He dumped the salt in his mouth. "I'm running low on salt here; pretty soon I'm going to have to start eating the sugar."

Axel's eyes twitched. There was no way he was going to let Demyx get to the point where he had to eat pure sugar. Axel _definitely _didn't want to deal with the consequences afterward.

Axel pushed himself out of the booth. "I'm going to go up there and see what's taking so long. Wait here, and don't eat the sugar." Axel paused, and then added another thought. "In fact, if you run out of salt, eat the pepper."

"But that's gross."

Axel raised an eyebrow at him. "And eating salt's not?" The redhead walked away from the booth, and toward the counter. There was a bald man sipping coffee seated on one of the rotatable stools. Axel took a seat next to him, waiting for a worker to appear and help him.

No one appeared for a few moments. "Hell-o-o-o-o." He called through an opening the size of a window between the kitchen and the rest of the restaurant.

A head appeared in the window, and disappeared just as quick. But in that moment, Axel instantly recognized the head that popped up.

"Zexion?" He was sure it was the slate-haired teen. He'd know Zexion's hair anywhere; after all, he looked at it every day. He saw more hair than face on a normal day.

Zexion's head slowly raised into the opening. "Hey Axel." Zexion looked like he desperately wanted to be anywhere but there.

"Since when do you work here?" Axel was confused; Zexion hadn't ever told him anything about having a job. Maybe that's what he'd been so mysterious about. But why would Zexion feel the need to hide a _job? _

Zexion looked helplessly off into the kitchen, into a place where Axel couldn't see. "Stevie, I'm going to take an early break, if that's ok."

Axel craned his neck to try and see inside the kitchen, but couldn't get farther than a pizza oven that was chilling in the middle of the room.

"Ok." Axel heard the disembodied voice call from the depths of the kitchen. Zexion nodded toward the voice, and then left the window space. He soon reappeared through the swinging doors that connected the kitchen and dining part of the restaurant.

"Well, I was just coming up here to see what's taking my pizza so long, but this is a nice surprise." Axel walked back toward their table with Zexion in step.

Zexion scowled at him.

"Down, boy." Axel put his hands in the air as a mock gesture of surrender. "What I mean is, what are you doing here, and where's my damn pizza?"

As they arrived at the table, Zexion sat down next to Demyx, who waved erratically. The blonde had a pepper shaker in his mouth. Zexion gave him an odd look, but turned his attention to Axel.

"Well, for the first question, I work here. Duh." Zexion motioned toward the uniform he was wearing.

"When did you get a job?" Axel crossed his arms and leaned back. "And why?" Personally, Axel didn't like jobs. At all.

Zexion shrugged. "I started working here a couple months ago. So what?"

"Yeah, but _why."_

Zexion glared at Axel. "Is it so hard to believe that I actually _work, _Axel? I'd understand if you don't get it, because you obviously don't." If Zexion were a dog, his hackles would be standing up on end right now.

Demyx 'tisked.' "Come on you guys, stop it." Demyx tilted his head at Zexion. "All he wants to know is why you got a job." Demyx's voice was nicer than Axel's was, so Zexion untensed some.

His face went back to its blank expression. "Well, for starters, it's not like I wanted it. Because I didn't. I had to get a job because I can't afford college. We're dirt poor. Why the hell else do you think I even go to this school?" Zexion was resentful of this, it was plain to see.

"But, Zex, you're really smart. And you're not facing off with Kairi, Naminé, or Pence for it, they're all juniors. You're pretty much a shoo-in." Demyx smiled at his friend, and patted him on the back. "Why worry about finances?"

Zexion's face lost a bit of its blankness, softening up slightly. "Because I really don't want to rely on grades. What if I don't get the scholarship? Then I end up a loser, like my parents." His face lost all trace of softness, and quickly became downcast.

Axel scoffed. "Oh quit whining." He was aware of how brutal his words sounded.

"Axel!" Demyx nagged. "Can't you see he's depressed? Have a little sympathy."

Axel rolled his eyes. "It's not what you think, Dem." He trained his attention back on Zexion. "For one: don't whine about becoming a loser like your parents. You won't, because you're about 100 times smarter than they are. I don't even know how the hell you're their kid." Truthfully, Axel had only seen Zexion's parents once, and that was at school conferences. But, once was enough for him to decipher that they weren't the brightest crayons in the box. "Plus, you're getting the scholarship. And if you don't get that one, there's hundreds others. You're bound to get more than one. After all, isn't your GPA like a 4.34 or something crazy like that?"

Zexion nodded.

Demyx whistled. "Wow, Zexy, I didn't even know that was possible." Demyx nudged Zexion playfully. "I've only got a 2.9. You're kicking my butt."

Zexion's mouth twitched. "That's not bad, considering some of the other GPA's in our class." Zexion looked at Axel. "Speaking of, what's yours, Axel?"

Axel snorted. "A whopping 1.5. If that's all your up against, Zexion, then you're getting a fucking full ride. They'll probably give you a bonus just because they felt bad because you were surrounded by idiots in high school."

"That would not surprise me." He smirked, and Axel punched him playfully in the shoulder, glad he'd gotten through to Zexion.

Demyx's stomach rumbled so audibly that Axel heard it all the way from across the table. The three were silent for a moment, and then burst out into laughter.

"Speaking of, where the hell is our pizza?"

On cue, a smoke detector in the kitchen went off.

Zexion's eyes widened. "I think that might be it…"

* * *

When Axel had finally left the pizza place, it was dark. He'd been there way longer than he wanted, mostly due to Zexion accidentally setting fire to his pizza. But, on the bright side, Demyx got the 2nd pizza half off because of the trouble. Axel held the holey tulip from Marluxia in his hand, spinning it around absentmindedly. He wondered if his mom would actually be home yet.

He opened the door, and was greeted by an odd sight. His mom was home, with her boy toy Jonathan. But the weird part was that Paine was sitting on the loveseat, chatting with the two like they were old friends.

When he walked in the door, his mom smiled falsely at him. "Oh honey, where have you been?"

"Pizza mishap." He was weirded out, to say the least. "Uhh, flower." He jammed the flower in his mom's direction, and she took it. Axel glanced around awkwardly at the room's congregation.

"Axel, there's a hole in this flower." She raised an over-plucked eyebrow at him.

Jonathan chuckled. "A hole? Is there really?" Axel's mom showed him, and he laughed loudly.

She looked at Axel curiously. "Thank you, I guess. You don't love me enough to get me even a whole flower?" Her guilt didn't faze Axel.

"No, that was just all I could afford."

"Oh." She nodded. "Well thank you, son." She went back to coddling Jonathan.

"Well, Axel. That was nice of you." The sincerity in Jonathan's voice surprised Axel. If anything, he expected sarcasm.

"Er, thanks, man." Axel trained his eyes on Paine. "And what are you doing here?"

Axel's mom scoffed. "Oh Axel, be a little more becoming. She's your lovely girlfriend after all. She just wanted to see you."

"Thank you." Paine smiled at his mom. Axel could tell she was sucking up. Paine had uber good sucking up powers, and she exploited them well.

That bitch…

"Why don't you two go on a date or something?" Axel's mom's eyes lit up, like her suggestion was the best thing in the world. "That sounds good. Doesn't it, Paine?"

"That sounds fun! I haven't hung out with Axie in _weeks." _Paine smiled. "Doesn't that sound fun, baby?"

"I've like, been gone all day…yeah… homework. School's important." Axel made a mental note to wash his mouth out with soap to get rid of the phrase he just said. In no way was school important to him.

Jonathan waved off the silly excuse. "Nonsense, take your girl out on a date." He zoned in on Axel, giving him a 'man-to-man' look. "Trust me; she'll thank you for it."

Axel briefly wondered why this sounded like a scripted sitcom. If this were a sitcom, when will the plot take a turn for the worse? He guessed soon.

Jonathan pulled some munny out of his wallet, and handed it to Axel. "Go somewhere fun." Jonathan smiled, and Axel mumbled 'thanks' to him. Axel pocketed the munny, and lazily rolled his head toward his spiky-haired girlfriend.

"You ready to go?" He deadpanned.

She nodded. "We can take my car."

"I guess that makes sense, since I don't have a license or anything…" Axel mumbled, opening the front door for Paine. She strolled through the door, giving his mom and Jonathan a wave goodbye.

When they were outside, the fake smile seemed to melt from her face. She turned on her heels and stared intently at him, opening her mouth to talk. But before she could say anything, he spoke.

"Wanna tell me why you're at my house unannounced?"

She raised an eyebrow. "I'm your girlfriend, aren't I allowed to do that? Plus, we haven't hung out since last week. Forgive me for wanting to spend time with you…" She rolled her eyes and looked at Axel like he was the dumbest thing on the planet. "Don't you care about your own girlfriend?"

He scratched his head awkwardly. That wasn't exactly the reaction he was expecting. He was expecting more of an 'I wanted to do something and didn't have any munny' kind of thing. So… he wasn't exactly sure how to respond.

"Cat got your tongue?" She stood up on her tiptoes slightly and looked into his eyes, smirking.

He shrugged, "Of course I care about you. Let's just go."

"Where exactly are we going?" She asked while opening her car door. She climbed in, and waved Axel around to the passenger side.

Axel shrugged, and decided to turn his charm switch to 'on' before things got ugly with Paine. If she felt he wasn't into her, she'd bitch about it the whole night for sure. "Well, baby, where do you want to go?" His smile would've stopped any girl in her tracks.

She smiled back, obviously pleased with the charm. "How about bowling? I haven't done that since, like, middle school."

Axel chuckled. "As long as we have bumpers." He looked out the windshield. "For you of course, not me."

Paine playfully smacked him with a smile. "Oh shut up, loverboy." They pulled out of the driveway, and took off toward the bowling alley. Axel rolled down his window and stuck his arm out, relishing the moment.

It wasn't often that he and Paine actually got along, but when they did he was reminded of why he asked her out in the first place, and the misunderstanding that everyone had about her. Sometimes, she wasn't bad at all.

* * *

When they reached the bowling alley, the first thing Axel saw was Yuna and Rikku rush out to greet them, and he was immediately tempted to retract every good thing he thought about Paine on the ride to the bowling alley.

His first thought was: setup. Paine needed money, and of course her boyfriend's parents would help out, as long as she flashed a smile and acted charming.

"Wow, what are the odds that they'd be here too?" Axel voice oozed sarcasm.

Paine shrugged, smiled brightly, and waved at her friends. "Maybe they just read my mind. Hello, we're practically triplets, you know."

"Yeah. Mind reading." He mumbled, sulking toward Rikku and Yuna. "More like text-reading. Requires much less talent."

Paine batted her eyelashes at Axel. "Baby, mind if I take the money? We can all save a few bucks and get a lane together."

Axel sighed. "I thought this was just going to be us two. That's what you wanted wasn't it?" He took the munny out of his pocket.

"Well, it's still us two hanging out, plus two more. What's so bad about that? The more the merrier!" Paine took the money, and rushed over to greet her friends, who were bobbing up and down like Oompa Loompas.

There was one thought flashing through his mind during his tread into the bowling alley:

_Stupid, Stupid, Stupid. You should've known this was going to happen. _

Insert mental smack.


	4. Usual Spot Warfare

Chapter 4: _Usual Spot Warfare_

Olette panted as she ran, knowing that she was late, and praying they didn't do something stupid. She pushed her legs as fast as she could; her plan was to show up a _few _minutes late, not a half hour. She spotted the back alley where the Usual Spot was, then she took a sharp left and entered the alley, narrowly missing running into the mail boy on the skateboard. She spied the gate to the Usual Spot, and pushed herself toward it, lungs burning. She tugged at the gate, and it flew open toward her easily, hinges squeaking. She heard loud arguing, and knew by their voices that it was Hayner and Pence.

She groaned. This is what she got for being so late. If she'd been here earlier, she would've been able to play mediator… but since her _twerpy _little sister decided to empty a box of uncooked rice on top of her head… It made her late. Olette seethed at the thought. Normally she wouldn't care what her excitable and naughty little sister did, but today was _not _the day to deal with it.

Since Olette hadn't been there to play mediator, she knew the guys would solve their problem in their own way. Or, not solve it (which, by the noise coming from their hangout, this is what was happening).

She pulled aside the curtain that led into their back-alley hangout, and was appalled at the sight.

Pence and Hayner had set up the room into a makeshift war zone. The three-seat couch was set up in front of Hayner as a barricade, while Pence did the same with their dilapidated loveseat. The boys were hurling insults and random objects at each other- even their dartboard had managed to dislodge from the wall. It was now on the ground, and broken in half.

Olette tried never to swear, but she made an exception for herself _just _this once. "What. The. _HELL? _I leave you guys alone for half an hour and you trash the Usual Spot, and turn it into a war zone! Don't you two have any respect?" Her hands balled into fists.

Hayner blinked at her. "Uh. Hi?"

Olette growled at him. "Pick up the couch!" She pointed at it, boring holes into Hayner with her eyes. When he got up and moved, she turned toward Pence. "You too!" She motioned toward his couch.

Pence picked his up right away, putting it back into its proper spot, then sitting on it, obviously trying to keep Olette from getting madder. He had a bit more respect for her feelings than Hayner did, who was leisurely putting the couch back into its proper place.

When Hayner was finally finished putting the couch back against the wall, he lay himself down on the couch and tried to look chill, but even Olette could tell that he was on edge. "Alright, now you two pay attention. You've been acting like middle school drama queens for awhile now, and as your _rational _best friend, I want to you two to talk about this. You've been friends ever since Pence moved to Twilight Town! What's killing everything now?"

No one spoke for a moment. Hayner placed his hands over his head, and glared Pence's way. "Maybe it's because teacher's pet over there doesn't have time for anyone else besides his precious textbook."

Pence shot Hayner a 'wtf' look. "Are you saying that you're jealous of me _studying? _That's pathetic Hayner, even for you."

"Pence…" Olette warned.

He mumbled 'sorry.'

"I'm not jealous, you dolt, I just think you should spend a little less time being a dork." Hayner's remark didn't cut through Pence like he'd intended. Pence just snorted in response.

"I'm concerned about my future. I don't want to live in this shithole, raise my kids in this shithole, and smoke shitty crack for the rest of my life, impregnating slutty women, who also couldn't escape this shithole." Pence didn't apologize for his cutting remark, even though it was very uncharacteristic of him. What's more, it was obviously meant to strike Hayner and his new ways. Pence glared at the blonde, waiting for a response.

Olette was stunned. She'd never heard Pence be downright mean before. It left her completely speechless; Hayner was too.

But to get his point across, Hayner didn't use words. He flipped Pence off, glared at him, and then pushed past Olette on his way out of the Usual Spot. When he was gone, the silence deafened Olette so much she just _had _to say something or she was going to go insane.

"You know, I think my plan to fix everything just took a crap."

Pence gave her a confused look, and she just waved it off. She wasn't exactly in the mood to tell him that her master plan to make everyone friends again did exactly the opposite of what she wanted. She was upset this hadn't worked- but she planned to get right back to thinking about what to do next. There was no way she was going to let this problem simmer and let the boys grow apart. Besides her, they were the only real friends each other had. Maybe they didn't realize it, but she did- and she was going to fix it, whether it killed her or not.

* * *

Olette ignored the mindless chatter around her: she was on a mission. Last night after the Usual Spot War (she'd officially dubbed it that) she was upset, but now she was just determined. Roxas had been a big help before, even though she'd screwed up the entire plan (more correctly, her sister). She planned to talk to him again and rope him into mending the friendship whether he wanted to or not.

Roxas was a nice guy; she was positive he'd want to help out anyway.

She spotted Roxas with a boy that had sandy brown hair. She'd seen him before, and knew he was new. But she'd never noticed that he was Roxas's brother: Their resemblance was striking: Same face, same eyes. Apparently Roxas had a twin that he hadn't told her about.

She shook the thought away. It didn't matter; she'd never actually inquired towards Roxas's home life anyway. She approached the two boys, and Roxas greeted her with a warm smile.

"Hey Olette." He gave Sora a sidelong glance. "This is my twin, Sora. Have you two ever met?"

Olette shook her head no. "We haven't, but I can tell that you two are twins from a mile away." She smiled at Sora, who was grinning goofily at her. Right from the get go, she could tell he was a fun, easy going guy.

"Yeah, we get that a lot." Sora moved the math textbook he was holding onto his other arm. "But hey, I'm going to go find my peeps. Cya Rox. Bye Olette." He gave them both a wave, and then took off toward the old brick building.

"So how did plan fix the friendship work? Successful?" He looked hopeful.

Olette groaned.

"No?"

"Plan equals epic fail. I was late because my little sister," Olette rolled her eyes, "and I got there and one of them initiated warfare into the Usual Spot. They're like little kids, I tell ya."

"No casualties, I'm assuming?"

Olette shook her head. "No. I tried to make them talk it out, but that worked just as well as leaving them alone together." Her original plan had been to draft Roxas into helping her, but another thought struck her mind. "What if I keep trying to make them friends again, but I end up just pushing them apart farther? What do I do then, Roxas? And if I leave them alone, that could also widen the gap!" Olette walked over to a nearby bench and plopped down on it. "I can't stand this. My two best friends are fighting, and I'm not even stuck in the middle so I don't know what the heck is going on!" Olette felt on the verge of tears; it saddened her to see a lifelong friendship ruined so quickly and easily. As friends, they'd all made plans for after high school. They talked about being together forever.

Without warning, tears sprung into her eyes as she thought of all their plans unraveling.

Roxas sat next to her, then reached out and started rubbing her back for comfort. "Hey, don't cry. I know everything will work out. You guys have the strongest friendship I've ever seen; you're just hitting a roadblock, ok? You're smart; you'll figure out the solution to this problem."

Olette wiped the small droplets of tears from her eyes, and gave Roxas an easy smile. "Thanks, Rox. Did anyone ever tell you that you're the sweetest person ever? I've only known you for a few days and I feel like we've been friends for years."

Roxas laughed, and pulled her into a quick, half-hug. "Yeah I'm just a big cuddly bear, I know."

* * *

Hayner loved the summer heat, especially in the evening. The sky was dark, and the temperature was perfect. The streets were silent, but it wasn't a creepy dead silence; it was a live silence. Even thought he'd never admit it out loud, Hayner loved taking walks at this time. Usually he had no purpose, but tonight he did. He ignored the butterflies in his stomach, and kept walking. His feet slapped against the pavement as he walked, making him remember when Olette called him 'elephant feet' once because he practically stomped when he walked. He laughed. It was true; he'd just learned to tune out the noise.

His phone chirped, and he pulled it out, recognizing the noise as a text.

_Where r u?_

It was from Rikku. He glanced at the time: it was 9:30.

"Shit." He whispered, picking up his pace. He was going too slow: He was already half an hour late for Rikku's party. He quickly slammed a reply into his phone, shoved it in his pocket, and hurried. He wouldn't want to keep Rikku waiting, now would he?

He ran a few blocks, and soon heard the pulsing music coming from a house down the street. He followed the noise, and soon found himself in front of a modest size home, with white siding and red shutters: Rikku's home.

He took a deep breath, trying to abate his nervousness that had resurfaced at the sight of the house. He'd never been to a party before, and he'd sure as hell never snuck out. Pence and Olette had always talked him out of doing things like that.

He scowled, and gave himself a firm declaration. _'You've only got two years of high school left: It's time to live a little.' _He walked up the front sidewalk, feeling the bass of the techno music in his body every step he got closer. His heart began to pump in time with the music. Hayner set his hand on the doorknob, paused, and then opened the door. He was immediately greeted by a familiar scent: weed. He'd never used the stuff in his life, but the people at school did; they smelled like it all time.

The smell hit him like a tidal wave; he struggled to breathe for a moment. _Woah Hayner, you didn't sign on for this…_ He didn't expect his first party experience to be so… illegal.

_Well, what were you expecting?_ Hayner mentally told himself to shut up. The back and forth in his brain was going to give him a headache. He scuffled into the house quickly, not wanting to stand in the doorway anymore like an idiot. He took in the scene around him. It was just like the movies: the house was crowded, people were drinking and smoking, and a few of the more open couples were making out (practically having sex) while on the steps. One guy managed to smoke a joint and make out with two girls at the same time. Hayner whistled to himself, slightly impressed. _Is that what I'll be like one day? _Hayner shook his head; he'd never be like _that _guy, no matter what.

Hayner wandered around a bit, looking for a familiar face. He saw a few people he kind-of knew from school and gave them a nod, but he didn't know or care about them enough to stop and chat. He hugged his jacket tight around him, feeling out of place. Everyone here was partying and having a good time. Why couldn't he feel like he belonged?

Hayner looked around for Rikku, and spotted her. She was bending over (since she was wearing a leather mini her butt was practically showing) and getting something from the fridge.

Hayner knew it was her; he'd spent plenty of time looking at the goods on her. He walked over to her, and leaned on a counter next to the fridge.

"Boo!" He poked her in the side.

She jumped, almost dropping the can of beer she held. "Hayner!" She greeted him with a quick kiss on the lips. She'd never kissed him before, so Hayner was caught off guard, until he tasted alcohol on her lips. "It's about time you got here!" She giggled. "The party's _poppin!" _She did a little dance, swaggered slightly, then steadied herself, giggling some more. "Want a beer?" She held out the can she was holding to him.

He wanted to decline. Beer tasted like shit. But he didn't want to seem like a loser. "Um, sure." He accepted the beer Rikku held out to him. She reached down into the fridge, grabbing another can for herself.

Hayner pulled the tab and opened the beer. He took a sip, testing it. The last time he'd tasted beer was when his dad offered him a sip over a year ago, and he'd ended up spitting it out onto Pence's foot on accident then. He resisted the urge to smile at the memory.

Beer was still as gross as ever. He wanted to dump out the can into the sink.

"So what do you think?" Rikku asked. She took a large chug of her beer, like she was a pro at drinking.

Hayner shrugged, taking a large gulp to make himself look cool. "I don't know, I just got here. Looks like fun." _Fun? More like overwhelming. You're in over your head, Hayner._

He ignored his nagging brain. It didn't understand that he wanted to fit in.

After a short pause, Rikku spoke. "Want to have a chugging contest?" Rikku smiled wickedly at him.

"Chugging contest?" He felt lame for not knowing what it was.

Rikku nodded enthusiastically. "We have a contest to see who can chug three cans of beer the fastest!" She pulled four more cans out of the fridge and set them on the counter.

"Sounds like fun. I'll kick your butt." Hayner smiled at her, wondering if he could handle that much alcohol.

It seemed that no matter what bad and illegal things Rikku did, he always felt drawn to her. Her energy, her smile, and how nice she was. He liked her, he'd admit it. All he wanted was to impress her.

Rikku reached over and pinched his butt. "No, I think I'll kick yours." She poked him in the shoulder flirtatiously. "I've never lost a contest yet!" She turned to face the party, and cupped her hands around her mouth. "Hey, stoners! Chugging contest!" She yelled at the mob of dancing people, and they let out a cry. Apparently this was a popular thing. They pushed and shoved, surrounding Hayner and Rikku.

Hayner gulped. There was going to be audience now? What if he puked? _It's too late to back down now…_

People began to chant Rikku's name, and she smiled at him. "Ready or not?"

"Ready," _Or not. _He held his beer up to his mouth and waited for the call.

"Go!"

He didn't even stop to think of the people watching him, or the bad taste. He just chugged the beers like he'd done it a thousand times in his lifetime. He was surprised at how well he was holding it down, even after two and a half beers. He felt nauseous, but never actually threw up. He quickly chugged the last half of the beer he was holding, and swaggered slightly, his stomach feeling over full.

Paine finished her last gulp right after Hayner. She wiped the stray beer of her mouth and smiled at him, looking a little pie-eyed. "Did you just beat me?" She let out a hiccup and a giggle. "I do believe you're the first person!" She let out a 'whoop, whoop!'

The crowd cheered on Hayner (they didn't really know his name so they chanted 'blonde boy!'), and a few people came up to clap him on the back. He couldn't really make out faces; his vision was whirling, and his body had an intense, warm tingle feeling. _Is this what it's like to be drunk?_

"I thought you said you were going to kick my ass!" Hayner smacked her butt and laughed. "I just kicked yours!"

Rikku stuck her tongue out at him, and tripped forward into his arms. "You suck."

Hayner struggled to hold her up. It's not that she weighed much; he was getting hit hard and fast by the alcohol. When Hayner got a hold on her, he lifted her up and set her down on the counter. She was slightly shorter than him, so now they were face-to-face. Rikku grabbed his face, and pulled him into a mind-bending kiss. He knew he wasn't thinking clearly, but this is what he wanted.

_And you thought you couldn't handle the party. _His mind gave him a wicked grin.

* * *

Olette hung up her house phone again, angry because Hayner still hadn't answered. She glanced at the clock, and her anger rose slightly. It was already 10:00; she'd been calling the blonde for practically fifteen minutes now. All she wanted to do was talk about what had happened yesterday.

Olette's breath hitched. What if he was mad at her? Hayner hadn't talked to her all day at school. All he'd done was hang out with _them, _laughing and joking like they were old friends with an inside joke.

Olette's mp3 player switched songs, to 'Just a Dream' by Carrie Underwood. Listening to the song (which was depressing, to say the least), her anger simmered into sadness. If he was truly mad at her, she didn't even know where to start to fix the situation. She'd thought about Hayner and Pence losing each other, but she'd never thought that she'd also lose Hayner completely.

Olette sighed, completely forgetting her homework. She laid down on her bed, and put both headphones in her ears. She closed her eyes, listening to the music, trying not to think.

Soon, she fell asleep. Her clothes were still on, her homework was scattered around her, and her mp3 player was still going. Her mom slowly opened the door while carrying a blanket, suspecting that Olette was asleep. She picked up all of Olette's homework, then pulled out her headphones. She didn't want to disturb Olette by pulling the covers out from underneath her, so she set the blanket she'd brought on top of her sleeping daughter.

When she was done, she clicked off Olette's lamp. She crossed her arms and frowned sadly. As a mom, she knew when her daughter was upset. Olette was normally a happy, loving person, but something had obviously changed. She'd never seen Olette so upset in her life. But Olette wouldn't tell her what was going on. Not being able to help was making her feel useless and like a bad mom.

She walked out of the room, closing the door quietly behind her.


End file.
